Have you noticed how much nostalgia we have around us now? I mean, there’s so much, I feel like I’m drowning in it, daily.

Movies: Remakes and reboots aren’t just a trend any more, they’re business as usual. A Nightmare on Elm Street, Red Dawn, Halloween and more have all been or are being remade. Recent reboots included The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone with rumoured ones including The X-Files and of course, every Marvel property.

And if you’re not rebooting or remaking, you’re digging up a licence to something we are supposed to have liked as kids, like Transformers or G.I. Joe. Little wonder when a vaguely original idea like District 9 comes along, people go crazy for it.

Comics: Same trends, different medium, although it tends to be restricted to characters rather than comics. In the last few years just about every major DC character has been rebooted at least once (Batman, Batgirl, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle), either turning into a new incarnation of the same character or just undergoing an origin revision. Marvel isn’t immune to it either, whether it’s characters (Spider-Man, Captain America) or entire lines (Ultimate becoming Ultimate, er, Comics).

In comics’ defence, given the volume of content that’s output in comparison to movies, they have a more urgent requirement to shake things up on a regular basis; and I remember nodding sagely with (I think) Dan Didio’s assertion that the DC Universe needed to be rebooted every twenty years or so (Crisis on Infinite Earths was in 1986 after all). So perhaps this is just me being an old fart…

Games: However even now in games, we’re getting the same effect. The idea of ‘new IP’ seems to be total anathema to most of the major publishers, with the safe, tried and true method being to remake or reboot somehow. And why is this on my mind? Well it’s because of an MMO announcement, of course.

Those of us (ahem) ‘in the know’ have been aware of WoW’s Cataclysm expansion for a while now, but the full extent of the nostalgia trip it’s going to be wasn’t really clear until recent announcements. While I absolutely see the sense in going back to old content to ensure that players feel the world they’ve inhabited for so long, I can also see that the sticky, sweet, clingy sense of nostalgia that hangs around this stuff had to be a strong motivator in choosing what to do next. I actually read a blog post yesterday where the author was extremely excited for the nostalgia effect, not particularly for the new gameplay.

In other words, apparently as consumers, we’re now just looking to recapture that old feeling, instead of looking for new ones.

I’m as guilty of this as the rest of you. I yearn for those first, life-defining experiences to come again, at least some days. But other days, I really do find myself wondering if there’s a single original thought out there in this world. If anyone is trying to do something new.

If they are, unfortunately, they have their work cut out for them. It’s a rocky road ahead when you’re trying to genuinely do something different and exciting. For me though, it’s the most important path to take. Because everything that’s been remade or rebooted was original once… and it’s those guys, the ones who blazed a trail, who get to say they did it first, who I respect most. Everyone else is just trading on old memories.

Have you noticed how much nostalgia we have around us now? I mean, there’s so much, I feel like I’m drowning in it, daily.

Movies: Remakes and reboots aren’t just a trend any more, they’re business as usual. A Nightmare on Elm Street, Red Dawn, Halloween and more have all been or are being remade. Recent reboots included The Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone with rumoured ones including The X-Files and of course, every Marvel property.

And if you’re not rebooting or remaking, you’re digging up a licence to something we are supposed to have liked as kids, like Transformers or G.I. Joe. Little wonder when a vaguely original idea like District 9 comes along, people go crazy for it.

Comics: Same trends, different medium, although it tends to be restricted to characters rather than comics. In the last few years just about every major DC character has been rebooted at least once (Batman, Batgirl, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Blue Beetle), either turning into a new incarnation of the same character or just undergoing an origin revision. Marvel isn’t immune to it either, whether it’s characters (Spider-Man, Captain America) or entire lines (Ultimate becoming Ultimate, er, Comics).

In comics’ defence, given the volume of content that’s output in comparison to movies, they have a more urgent requirement to shake things up on a regular basis; and I remember nodding sagely with (I think) Dan Didio’s assertion that the DC Universe needed to be rebooted every twenty years or so (Crisis on Infinite Earths was in 1986 after all). So perhaps this is just me being an old fart…

Games: However even now in games, we’re getting the same effect. The idea of ‘new IP’ seems to be total anathema to most of the major publishers, with the safe, tried and true method being to remake or reboot somehow. And why is this on my mind? Well it’s because of an MMO announcement, of course.

Those of us (ahem) ‘in the know’ have been aware of WoW’s Cataclysm expansion for a while now, but the full extent of the nostalgia trip it’s going to be wasn’t really clear until recent announcements. While I absolutely see the sense in going back to old content to ensure that players feel the world they’ve inhabited for so long, I can also see that the sticky, sweet, clingy sense of nostalgia that hangs around this stuff had to be a strong motivator in choosing what to do next. I actually read a blog post yesterday where the author was extremely excited for the nostalgia effect, not particularly for the new gameplay.

In other words, apparently as consumers, we’re now just looking to recapture that old feeling, instead of looking for new ones.

I’m as guilty of this as the rest of you. I yearn for those first, life-defining experiences to come again, at least some days. But other days, I really do find myself wondering if there’s a single original thought out there in this world. If anyone is trying to do something new.

If they are, unfortunately, they have their work cut out for them. It’s a rocky road ahead when you’re trying to genuinely do something different and exciting. For me though, it’s the most important path to take. Because everything that’s been remade or rebooted was original once… and it’s those guys, the ones who blazed a trail, who get to say they did it first, who I respect most. Everyone else is just trading on old memories.

But then I probably haven’t changed the date and time in this thing, so it’ll look like I was writing this in the middle of the work day. Hmm.

Yesterday being awake early apparently spurred me to play Boy Philosopher, for some reason. As you can tell, a life-changing event like emigration can turn the most reasonable of men (yes, me) into some sort of navel-gazing fluffhunter. However, today, let me give you the right answer for the rorschach test; you know, the one you spout at parties.

We’re both fine, and settling in, just about.

Ahem…

Well yes I could go into a lot more detail than that, but there’s a limit to what I’ll say on an open page. I will say that we’ve almost done everything we knew we were going to need to do before we left, and now we’re down to discovering things that are all-new. By that I mean we’ve moved into our apartment, we’ve bought a new TV (woo!), we’ve set up a bank account (and one with a credit union), we’ve gotten registered with all the right people, and I’ve even been paid a few times (as it’s happening ‘semi-monthly’, ie twice a month). We have a couch, a cat, a dining table, a couple of chairs, and a whole new series of incoming bills.

In other words, it feels like normality, albeit an always* sunny, surrounded by America normality.

And I have to say it’s pretty darn nice, at least in a superficial way. Life is treating us well. We have a bountiful choice of fresh produce and product whenever we go to one of the many local supermarkets. We can see all the movies we want when they open here. We have many choices in restaurants, which of course usually serve massive portions for reasonable prices. Oh and everything is open late. In fact shopping after work is a norm, not something you do on a Thursday.

What’s the one thing we’re missing? Oh yeah. You lot.

At first, our minds were both so occupied with what we have to do now every day that not being amongst people we know and love didn’t really phase us. Every day we were both busy with settling into a new home, dealing with new challenges and trying not to get killed merging on the 101 expressway. Now, that we’ve been here a while, it’s starting to nag.

It’s not so much that there aren’t nice people here, or that I feel we can’t make new friends – I think we have already, to be honest, and that feels great. It’s just that every now and then, someone pops into your mind and you think “Oh, I haven’t seen them in ages, we should…” and then reality intrudes, and you remember that no, they’re not just a mile or two away and all you need to do is pick up the phone. They’re thousands of miles away, and even if you did pick up the phone, the likelihood is you’d wake them up. This is how being homesick starts.

That only really follows if you assume home is where the heart is, which I guess is true right now. I lost my heart in Brighton as opposed to 30 minutes up the road (Sorry Tony Bennett). This doesn’t mean that we’re ready to move back, literally or figuratively; we made our choice and we move forward. Doesn’t mean I don’t think of you though, and past moments, and great memories.

Did I mention we have a guest room?

* Except for this morning! Where it appears to be raining for the first time since I got here. I knew that those big grey fluffy things in the sky meant something.

Yesterday being awake early apparently spurred me to play Boy Philosopher, for some reason. As you can tell, a life-changing event like emigration can turn the most reasonable of men (yes, me) into some sort of navel-gazing fluffhunter. However, today, let me give you the right answer for the rorschach test; you know, the one you spout at parties.

We’re both fine, and settling in, just about.

Ahem…

Well yes I could go into a lot more detail than that, but there’s a limit to what I’ll say on an open page. I will say that we’ve almost done everything we knew we were going to need to do before we left, and now we’re down to discovering things that are all-new. By that I mean we’ve moved into our apartment, we’ve bought a new TV (woo!), we’ve set up a bank account (and one with a credit union), we’ve gotten registered with all the right people, and I’ve even been paid a few times (as it’s happening ‘semi-monthly’, ie twice a month). We have a couch, a cat, a dining table, a couple of chairs, and a whole new series of incoming bills.

In other words, it feels like normality, albeit an always* sunny, surrounded by America normality.

And I have to say it’s pretty darn nice, at least in a superficial way. Life is treating us well. We have a bountiful choice of fresh produce and product whenever we go to one of the many local supermarkets. We can see all the movies we want when they open here. We have many choices in restaurants, which of course usually serve massive portions for reasonable prices. Oh and everything is open late. In fact shopping after work is a norm, not something you do on a Thursday.

What’s the one thing we’re missing? Oh yeah. You lot.

At first, our minds were both so occupied with what we have to do now every day that not being amongst people we know and love didn’t really phase us. Every day we were both busy with settling into a new home, dealing with new challenges and trying not to get killed merging on the 101 expressway. Now, that we’ve been here a while, it’s starting to nag.

It’s not so much that there aren’t nice people here, or that I feel we can’t make new friends – I think we have already, to be honest, and that feels great. It’s just that every now and then, someone pops into your mind and you think “Oh, I haven’t seen them in ages, we should…” and then reality intrudes, and you remember that no, they’re not just a mile or two away and all you need to do is pick up the phone. They’re thousands of miles away, and even if you did pick up the phone, the likelihood is you’d wake them up. This is how being homesick starts.

That only really follows if you assume home is where the heart is, which I guess is true right now. I lost my heart in Brighton as opposed to 30 minutes up the road (Sorry Tony Bennett). This doesn’t mean that we’re ready to move back, literally or figuratively; we made our choice and we move forward. Doesn’t mean I don’t think of you though, and past moments, and great memories.

Did I mention we have a guest room?

* Except for this morning! Where it appears to be raining for the first time since I got here. I knew that those big grey fluffy things in the sky meant something.

I figured I owe you this, whoever ‘you’ might be, even if you’re just a section of my subconscious or a figment of my imagination. And I’ve been trying to concoct what I want to say in my head for a while, but, honestly… it’s been hard to decide.

There’s a lot to say, and simultaneously, not very much at all.

In case you’re wondering, I can say with some certainty that moving countries (even to a country where they generally speak English) is a bit of a bitch. Mostly just because of the ties that bind. The emotional ones, the physical ones, and not-so-physical, but still very real bureaucratic and political ties that prevent us from wandering this Earth like free people, man, free to do what we wanna do, even if that’s just sitting around playing our guitars and singing – kum-ba-ya, my Lord… ahem.

That, if I so choose, would be the ‘lot to say’. I could tell you of the swift break I experienced with friends and family, the lack of real feeling because I didn’t know how to feel, which gradually day by day is turning into a void in my heart which… I guess I’ll just have to tread carefully around. But I won’t.

I could bore you with tales of almost monk-like acts of charity as we gave away all our stuff – and then reversed that karma by buying almost everything again, here. I could try to convince you that the process of spending money can actually get quite boring, even depressing – that I actually heard the words “I don’t think I could spend my life shopping” from my wife, that I found myself resenting the fact I had to spend another evening researching electronics or cars or both. But I won’t.

And I guess I could summarise the tricky, but not insurmountable obstacles that we faced in getting here, but honestly, they were just tricky… not insurmountable. If you ever have to face the same, feel free to ask me about it, but I won’t enrich the world by recounting here.

Which brings me to saying not very much at all.

I’ve been going back to basics, like prehistoric man. My primary concerns have been with the most basic of things: shelter, food, safety, money, transport. Now all of those things are accomplished, I ask myself, what’s next? Discover fire? Invent the wheel? Even those have been done, so really when it comes down to it – what is there for me to say that hasn’t been said a million times before?

Everyone’s story is unique of course, a beautiful delicate snowflake etc, but I’ll tell you; there’s nothing like detaching yourself from family, friends and familiar surroundings to make you sit back, look at your own life, and go: woah. Is this it?

Too philosophical? Well I haven’t had breakfast yet.

I figured I owe you this, whoever ‘you’ might be, even if you’re just a section of my subconscious or a figment of my imagination. And I’ve been trying to concoct what I want to say in my head for a while, but, honestly… it’s been hard to decide.

There’s a lot to say, and simultaneously, not very much at all.

In case you’re wondering, I can say with some certainty that moving countries (even to a country where they generally speak English) is a bit of a bitch. Mostly just because of the ties that bind. The emotional ones, the physical ones, and not-so-physical, but still very real bureaucratic and political ties that prevent us from wandering this Earth like free people, man, free to do what we wanna do, even if that’s just sitting around playing our guitars and singing – kum-ba-ya, my Lord… ahem.

That, if I so choose, would be the ‘lot to say’. I could tell you of the swift break I experienced with friends and family, the lack of real feeling because I didn’t know how to feel, which gradually day by day is turning into a void in my heart which… I guess I’ll just have to tread carefully around. But I won’t.

I could bore you with tales of almost monk-like acts of charity as we gave away all our stuff – and then reversed that karma by buying almost everything again, here. I could try to convince you that the process of spending money can actually get quite boring, even depressing – that I actually heard the words “I don’t think I could spend my life shopping” from my wife, that I found myself resenting the fact I had to spend another evening researching electronics or cars or both. But I won’t.

And I guess I could summarise the tricky, but not insurmountable obstacles that we faced in getting here, but honestly, they were just tricky… not insurmountable. If you ever have to face the same, feel free to ask me about it, but I won’t enrich the world by recounting here.

Which brings me to saying not very much at all.

I’ve been going back to basics, like prehistoric man. My primary concerns have been with the most basic of things: shelter, food, safety, money, transport. Now all of those things are accomplished, I ask myself, what’s next? Discover fire? Invent the wheel? Even those have been done, so really when it comes down to it – what is there for me to say that hasn’t been said a million times before?

Everyone’s story is unique of course, a beautiful delicate snowflake etc, but I’ll tell you; there’s nothing like detaching yourself from family, friends and familiar surroundings to make you sit back, look at your own life, and go: woah. Is this it?

Too philosophical? Well I haven’t had breakfast yet.

I’ve been pretty quiet over the last eight months, particularly when compared to most of last year. I had two good reasons.

One, I secured a job with Trion World Network, which was still in ‘stealth mode’ when I got the job, meaning I couldn’t talk about… well anything, really. Not the company, not the job, not the game(s)… so I just kept my big mouth shut.

Two, I was going through the time-consuming, tedious and nerve-wracking process of getting my US immigration visa. This would have been a tough enough process at any time, but considering it was connected directly to me taking up the job, I felt in some way I should just keep quiet. Didn’t want to jinx things. I only broke silence when the internal mental pressure began to get so much that even endless games of Civilization IV weren’t enough to keep The Voices in check, and I had to vent somewhere.

Well, now I’ve officially got The Job, and I sure as hell have The Visa. So I can talk. A bit.Trion’s an exciting company to be part of. With three games in active production (Heroes of Telara; the MMORTS project with Petroglyph, and the MMOARPG being made in collaboration with Sci-Fi/SyFy) there’s a hell of a lot to do, and lots of exciting possibilities down the road. I’ll admit it; before I found the job opportunity last year, I didn’t know much about Trion. I’d read the odd press release, but it was only when I started to really do my research, by reading every single scrap of info and interview I could find, that I got excited about what I might be getting into.

When I flew out to Redwood City and met the various team members there, I got more excited. These guys had a vision; a definite idea of what they wanted to do in the MMO ‘space’ and how they wanted to move the genre forward. The idea here wasn’t just to make a carbon copy game, or move things forward by inches. This is potentially revolutionary stuff.

Without trying to lapse into pure hyperbole, what I saw and what I heard during my two days of interviews was enough to make me very interested in being part of the company, and very anxious to get started. As you can imagine, kicking my heels for much of the following eight months while my visa processed was pure bloody torture.

Then suddenly everything came together. In late May my visa finally got approved, and days later I was on a plane to Los Angeles, to officially start the job as part of the E3 team. Due to a last minute delay in my visa processing which added another month to the wait, I hadn’t been as involved in the E3 planning as we’d initially hoped. As a result I expected to feel like the ‘odd man out’ at E3, the guy who didn’t know what was going on. (“Don’t worry,” I told my boss, “I am able to fetch and carry coffee.”)

What surprised and delighted me was how quickly I was welcomed by everyone. I felt like an important team member from the moment I arrived, and by the end of the show I felt proud to have been part of such a tight-knit, hard-working team. Without getting too sappy, I couldn’t have had a better welcome to my first ‘official’ work in the US, and for a new company, to boot.

(I’m not sure whether to stand up and salute right now, blow my nose on a tissue, or beg off because I have something in my eye.)

So what’s next?

Well, I leave the UK ‘officially’ on July 9th, with Tom (the cat) and Amanda (the wife) following closely after. We’ve found a nice little apartment in Redwood City, not too far from Trion’s office (by California standards, anyway…). We’ll settle in and start adjusting to our new life. It’s already been a whirlwind of paperwork and decisions; it’s probably not going to die down any time soon. Someday soon though, I look forward to relaxing on my big American sofa, watching my big American TV, with my big (well, medium-sized) American car outside.

And while I am there, my brain shall hatch big American community plans. Believe me: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

I’ve been pretty quiet over the last eight months, particularly when compared to most of last year. I had two good reasons.

One, I secured a job with Trion World Network, which was still in ‘stealth mode’ when I got the job, meaning I couldn’t talk about… well anything, really. Not the company, not the job, not the game(s)… so I just kept my big mouth shut.

Two, I was going through the time-consuming, tedious and nerve-wracking process of getting my US immigration visa. This would have been a tough enough process at any time, but considering it was connected directly to me taking up the job, I felt in some way I should just keep quiet. Didn’t want to jinx things. I only broke silence when the internal mental pressure began to get so much that even endless games of Civilization IV weren’t enough to keep The Voices in check, and I had to vent somewhere.

Well, now I’ve officially got The Job, and I sure as hell have The Visa. So I can talk. A bit.Trion’s an exciting company to be part of. With three games in active production (Heroes of Telara; the MMORTS project with Petroglyph, and the MMOARPG being made in collaboration with Sci-Fi/SyFy) there’s a hell of a lot to do, and lots of exciting possibilities down the road. I’ll admit it; before I found the job opportunity last year, I didn’t know much about Trion. I’d read the odd press release, but it was only when I started to really do my research, by reading every single scrap of info and interview I could find, that I got excited about what I might be getting into.

When I flew out to Redwood City and met the various team members there, I got more excited. These guys had a vision; a definite idea of what they wanted to do in the MMO ‘space’ and how they wanted to move the genre forward. The idea here wasn’t just to make a carbon copy game, or move things forward by inches. This is potentially revolutionary stuff.

Without trying to lapse into pure hyperbole, what I saw and what I heard during my two days of interviews was enough to make me very interested in being part of the company, and very anxious to get started. As you can imagine, kicking my heels for much of the following eight months while my visa processed was pure bloody torture.

Then suddenly everything came together. In late May my visa finally got approved, and days later I was on a plane to Los Angeles, to officially start the job as part of the E3 team. Due to a last minute delay in my visa processing which added another month to the wait, I hadn’t been as involved in the E3 planning as we’d initially hoped. As a result I expected to feel like the ‘odd man out’ at E3, the guy who didn’t know what was going on. (“Don’t worry,” I told my boss, “I am able to fetch and carry coffee.”)

What surprised and delighted me was how quickly I was welcomed by everyone. I felt like an important team member from the moment I arrived, and by the end of the show I felt proud to have been part of such a tight-knit, hard-working team. Without getting too sappy, I couldn’t have had a better welcome to my first ‘official’ work in the US, and for a new company, to boot.

(I’m not sure whether to stand up and salute right now, blow my nose on a tissue, or beg off because I have something in my eye.)

So what’s next?

Well, I leave the UK ‘officially’ on July 9th, with Tom (the cat) and Amanda (the wife) following closely after. We’ve found a nice little apartment in Redwood City, not too far from Trion’s office (by California standards, anyway…). We’ll settle in and start adjusting to our new life. It’s already been a whirlwind of paperwork and decisions; it’s probably not going to die down any time soon. Someday soon though, I look forward to relaxing on my big American sofa, watching my big American TV, with my big (well, medium-sized) American car outside.

And while I am there, my brain shall hatch big American community plans. Believe me: you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Heck of a day, at least inside my skull. Small, not that significant concerns suddenly exploded into massive, panic-inducing nightmares as they’re connected to my immediate emigrating future. Resolved, now – but still, it’s the kind of thing that leads podcast co-hosts to mutter “I am never, ever leaving this country.”

Yeah, why am I doing that, anyway?

I’ve wanted to live in the US of A for quite a long time. Maybe longer than I realise. The desire initially sprang from a lifetime of American comics, movies, TV shows and the like; I think Stan Lee has something to answer for, as he made New York City seem like a swinging place for all mighty Marvelites. Even if the reality didn’t have occasional appearances by the mighty Thor or the invincible Iron Man, it did seem like I’d stepped onto a movie set when I finally visited in 1995.

Everywhere I’ve been in the US – and I’ve been in quite a few places, just ask the wife – has been a memorable experience, and more than once when I’ve left, I’ve yearned to get back. Sure, there are bad points, but the good points are so overwhelmingly good – at least, in my experience – that you’d be crazy not to want to live there. Over the years as my career progressed, the idea of working out there appealed more and more, but I never got the chance. Now, through fate and love and marriage, it’s all coming together.

So why am I intermittently petrified?

One reason’s obvious: while ‘moving home’ is up high on the list of Insanely Stressful Things You Can Do, adding the bonus layer of ‘in a different country’ makes it all the more special. There’s just so much more to think about, from the mundane (What furniture do we ship?) to the essential (How do I get a driving licence over there, anyway?). It’s the fact that everything may look the same, but in fact it’s just a little different, that makes the experience so weird. And at times, stressful as hell.

I’ve told myself a few times that quite frankly, it’s not as bloody bad as all that. We’re not moving to an obscure African country or the Moon. We’ll have running water and electricity, and (almost) everyone speaks (a variant of) English. It’s just very unfamiliar. No matter how many times I’ve visited, it’s not the same as living there.

Then there’s what I’m leaving behind.

To be blunt, being laid off by NCsoft has made the process of severing links with the UK a little easier to bear. A little, but not a lot. For a while there, honestly, I was living a dream – which should have been a clue that at some point, I was going to wake up. It was lovely while it lasted though, and while moving to the US (and to California to boot) will be fantastic in new and exciting ways, there’s part of me that wishes the ‘Golden Year’ of summer 2007 to summer 2008 could just be replayed forever.

I also feel that I’ve grown closer to a lot of people in the last four years than I did in the previous four. Without elaborating, the early part of this decade wasn’t the greatest time for me, personally; it had its moments, but I look at the latter half as more of a success than the former. So yeah, it does sort of suck that I’m moving thousands of miles away from people I’ve had the pleasure to get to know, and now won’t be able to just hang out with on occasion.

You are, of course, all very welcome in my beach-side Californian palace. Assuming it’s beach-side. Or a palace.

It’s all relative. There will be new friends, and new challenges, and new excitements and new horizons. All the old stuff will get neatly packaged up into memories, with the bad stuff blurred out… and the really bad erased completely.

Occasionally though – at random, unheralded moments – my mind just stops and explores the instant, and I realise I’m going to miss some of this, some of the here and now.

It might be boxed away and forgotten about, but I know I’m going to hang on to those boxes.